Students, staff stage 'walk in' at Brevard High

Dozens of Brevard High School students, teachers and administrators held a "walk-in" Monday morning to protest the state's latest education budget.

By NANCY TANKERTimes-News Staff Writer

BREVARD — Dozens of Brevard High students, teachers and administrators held a “walk-in” Monday morning to protest the state’s latest education budget. “Teachers are fed up” with decreased funding for teacher assistants in grades K-3 and higher class sizes, and the fact that the state ranked nearly last in the country in terms of per-pupil spending, said English and journalism teacher Meredith Licht, who also serves as president of the Transylvania County Association of Educators. “Let’s focus on the students, because that’s who is being impacted by these cuts.”She encouraged students and staff to arrive to school Monday wearing red to show support for education. The walk-in was part of a statewide effort started mainly on social media asking state schools to stage walk-ins or walk-outs Monday. At Brevard High, school staff presented a petition to parents dropping off their children in the school’s car line calling on Raleigh legislators to change their current course.Licht said she wanted to make a visible statement and bring together teachers and students “who are tired of bearing the brunt of trying to balance North Carolina’s budget” on the backs of education. “We try to give our students the best possible education we can, but that tack is no longer tenable and students have to be aware of what their elected officials are doing to them and their prospects for the future,” she said.Licht added that cuts to teacher assistant funding in grades K-3 is particularly troubling. “That’s when students are just learning how to read at different levels,” she said. “Reading is a cornerstone to being successful. … A full-time TA makes a huge difference. TAs are really teachers. They’re educators 100 percent.”“Today you see a nationwide trend developing of a devaluation of public sector employees, especially in education, and it really seems like there’s a movement to undermine public schools,” she added. “You can’t continue to cut funding years on end and tell me education matters. Education deserves to be better funded.”Fellow teacher Jane Fuller teaches AP calculus and also works with struggling students at Brevard High. She has been an educator for more than 30 years. “We are in a crisis mode in the state because the state has not prioritized education,” she said.She added that both Republican and Democratic administrations are to blame for overburdened, underpaid teachers. She held up a graph from the website teachingspeaksvolumes.com that indicated North Carolina teachers have seen a decrease in pay of more than 15 percent from 2002 to 2012.“I have dedicated my life to education, but the only way I have been able to do that financially is because my husband doesn’t work in education,” she said. “Some of the young teachers can’t pay their bills.” Meanwhile, she added, “In Wyoming, which is also Republican-controlled, their teacher salaries have increased more than 18 percent.”Brevard High Principal Jason Ormsby said Licht and her fellow teachers have been “working hard to get everyone involved, which is a good thing.” Asked if he supported the walk-in, Ormsby responded, “I support public education. If there’s one thing in the world we cannot do without, it’s public education, where whether you’re poor or rich, everyone gets the same chance to make something of themselves.”Budgets “are tight,” he acknowledged. “Our county does a wonderful job of supporting education and trying to be frugal with the amount of money they’ve been given,” but sometimes that’s just not enough.“If we need a literacy coach or a math coach, textbooks or extra materials, we have to just do without, which just adds to the teachers’ already busy schedules,” he said. Ormsby also noted that positions at the school system’s central office have been cut due to retirement, which means some remaining employees “have to pull double-duty.”After the walk-in, Kelsie Koffman, a junior, said she took part “because a lot of the programs in our school like band represent our school and we work hard to achieve a lot, but we’re extremely underfunded.”Senior Brittany Woods said, “It’s really important that teachers get the pay they deserve because they work really hard.” She just moved to Brevard recently, she said. “Both of my parents are teachers in Florida, where they get paid more.”Fellow senior Kristy Stodola said she and Woods are both in chorus. “Our auditorium has a lot of problems we can’t fix because of a lack of funding,” she said. Recent improvements were made to the auditorium stage, but the space still needs an updated sound system, lighting and seating, she explained.After students dispersed to return to class, Licht said she was “pleased to see so many students participate today. This is their future, and I’m glad to see they’re invested in it.”N.C. Sen. Tom Apodaca said he’s also invested in education, is also in favor of granting local school board officials more control over how they spend money from the state in terms of setting class sizes and employing teacher assistants. When crafting the state budget, “We thought local officials knew better how to allocate their funds than we (in Raleigh) do. We gave local authorities the chance to make decisions.”“No. 1, we didn’t cut K-1 (TA funding),” he added. “It was grades 2-3. The Excellent Public School Act specifically deals with reading and a child being able to read at school level out of the third grade. We added reading teachgers and tutors. It’s not a TA’s place to instruct children. It’s a certified teacher’s place. ... I’m married to a third-grade teaacher so I know the TA fuctions: class preparation, classroom testing, getting kids from and to where they need to be.”In terms of teacher pay, the senator said, “Sometimes the teacher’s union is a little selfish — it’s all about them. We have to look after all state workers, and we take that very seriously. It’s frustrating. We have been through the worst recession since the great deep depression. And we’re still not out of it total. Our unemployment numbers in Transylvania County are still somewhat elevated and we’re trying to do the best we can, but we’re not totally out of the financial woods yet and flush with cash again.”“I’m on the education oversight committtee and we’re very concerned about starting pay for teachers,” he continued. “We want to get that 0-5-years teacher more competitive and move that bar up. We’re discussing different models for that.”N.C. Rep. Chris Whitmire said he thought the walk-in was “a very good show of support for education ... that reflects the great community involvement we have here in Transylvania county and across the 113th district of Henderson, Polk and Transylvania counties. I can’t say enough good things about the excellent public education we have.“Specific to TAs, I greatly value and recognize the importance of TAs in the classrooms. They are most cost-effective multipliers of value in the public school system. If you look at their pay, it’s barely half of what a teacher makes and they make the teacher more effective, especially the lower grades, K-3, where reading and math are so important. Many area school systems that have a strong record have TAs that are credentialed teachers who are tyrying to get their foot in their door, maybe because that’s the only position open, and you’re getting double for your money. TAs are absolutely cost effective.”“When it comes to where education money comes from, state monies are the majority, although federal and local make a difference,” he added. “Most states put a heavier burden on the local level. Federal guidelines drive about 80 percent of the regulations and then provide only about 10 percent of the school system funding. Those are ballpark figures.”Federal regulations mean “local administrators don’t have a choice” on where to spend a lot of funds. ... When the economy took a downturn, the fat had to be trimmed and trimmed and trimmed. There’s a point where you don’t have anything left to trim,” he said. “When it comes to funding for students or for teacher pay, for nearly a decade there has been a shell game played with distcretionary cuts, which we did away with this time. That said, there are still some tough choices superintendents have to make.Whiymire said there’s a positive side. “...Look at the performance that Henderson County has had year after year. One of the highest ACT and SAT scores in the state. WNC schools in general, Henderson County in particular, just beats the socks off the state national average,” he said. “I have to tip my hat to the administrators and educators who stretch their dollars and do the best they can to educate our students.”Reach Tanker at 828-694-7871 or nancy.tanker@blueridgenow.com.